Chapter 209: 209-Nobody Trusts No One Anymore.
Clementine:
We were never given counseling for it. They expected us to come here and act like the north was just the past or some game show. It wasn’t. It meant more to us.
Miss Lenora looked shocked and disgusted by my squadmate’s reaction.
"If anything, ask the others why it was Clementine who was constantly targeted. She did her best. And then Suki stabbed her in the back," Ian said, and gasps erupted through the hall.
"Clementine found a cellar and helped them get in," Ian continued. "But Suki stabbed her when she wanted to get in herself. Why? Did she not deserve to save herself? Did she not deserve one night of safety? The Wendigos were attacking, and Suki was attacking Clementine, not the Wendigos."
Ian’s veins began to stand out as he raised his voice, his tone thundered through the hall.
"Before you point your finger at Suki, let me tell you, I watched her look at you two begging to be saved. What did you two do? Nothing," Joshua finally snapped out to reality and yelled at Ian.
"Oh, fuck, I did not want to save her. She was constantly coming at Clementine, trying to kill her. Clementine was stabbed. If I had to choose between the two, I would save my squadmate. My..." He trailed off.
After a deep breath, Ian finished, "—my friend."
I didn’t know whether to be glad he stood up for me or annoyed he hadn’t said ’mate.’
"Wait a minute," Ms. Lenora snapped. "Suki was the one who stabbed Clementine?" She pointed at me and then at Joshua.
"I did not see anything," Joshua excused.
"Exactly. You didn’t, because you were hiding in the cellar like a coward while you sent your bitch to attack the one who saved you that night," Ian growled.
"Suki is fucking gone forever and you are calling her slurs?" Joshua started to pace toward Ian, but Ian straightened, squared his shoulders, and didn’t back down.
"Wait, wait, wait, step back, everyone," Ms. Lenora rushed in between them, standing in the middle with her arms wide and palms ready to push them apart if they got closer.
Mr. Rick rushed forward and grabbed Joshua, pushing him back. Miss Rue walked up and stood in front of Ian, giving him a look and shaking her head to stop any violence.
"If Suki truly stabbed Clementine, which would explain the wound on her back because a Wendigo wouldn’t do that, it’s sad none of you mentioned it in your initial statements," Ms. Lenora said sharply.
"We weren’t there," Mira quickly defended herself.
"What about you?" Ms. Lenora asked Jack. "You two didn’t know Suki stabbed Clementine?" she continued to point out Jack and Joshua.
Mr. Rick turned to his team, mostly Jack and Joshua. "Did you hear about this?"
"We overheard it," Joshua hissed, looking away.
"I mentioned it," Ian said to Miss Rue, who nodded.
"He did. I should have told you all," Miss Rue said. "Actually, I decided to go to the headmaster instead."
As soon as Miss Rue that, both Mr. Rick and Ms. Lenora turned to look at him.
"You should have told us," Mr. Rick argued. "If you go straight to the headmaster, it can get the whole squad punished or dismissed." He took a deep breath and paused for a second.
"But thankfully Suki isn’t here," Mr. Rick added. "She already received her punishment." He complained to Miss Rue about backstabbing them by not sharing the initial report and by pushing for a harsher punishment.
"I just had to say it, because this is getting crazy. Why are the squadmates fighting each other?" Miss Rue demanded of Mr. Rick and Ms. Lenora. "If you notice, most deaths happen because of their own mistakes," she pointed out the reality.
"So you’re saying the squadmates are the reason others are dying? I think what you are saying is true. If everyone worked together instead of focusing on trauma and teenage stuff, it would’ve been better," Ms. Lenora hissed.
"I’m sorry, but that’s unfair," Troy shot back, hissing in return.
She turned to him with a glare that scanned him from head to toe.
"We’re teenagers. We’ll do teenage stuff. What about counseling? Don’t you think you should’ve helped us better when we came back from every trip? You take interviews, every single statement. But then what? Just hang them on the wall and stare at them? Or toss some money, laugh, and eat popcorn while watching everything we went through? Don’t just accuse the squadmates. We’re all traumatized. And as ringleaders, you sit on your asses doing nothing."
Troy was on fire. The red squad even covered their mouths to not let out loud gasps as a reaction to his outburst.
"There were plenty of times we mentioned the White Squad being messy. We talked about people being left behind. And what do you do? Nothing. You don’t go back for them. You just lie to us," Haiden said, cutting in. He was reminding them of an earlier incident, when they promised to look for a squadmate we lost very early on; Sadie.
"That will be enough," Mr. Rick roared, silencing everyone. "We know what you’re going through. That’s why we offer you the chance to stay with your packs. This is the first time that’s been arranged. We’re doing everything we can. Unless you want us to cuddle with you," he hissed.
Before my squadmates could fire back, the ringleaders returned to their stands.
"There’s something we didn’t tell you," they said. "We acknowledge your hard work, especially on this task. But this wasn’t the first time it happened. The stone hasn’t stopped working just once. It’s happened before, sometimes in the early days of squads going on missions, sometimes much later." His words snapped heads, meeting gazes.
"But one thing was always the same whenever this task came up. Not once did any crusaders manage to fight the Wendigos, reach the stone, clear it, and come back alive. They could clear it, but then the Wendigos attacked and wiped out the entire squad. If the Wendigos didn’t get them, some other monster did."
Mr. Rick’s words filled my body with goosebumps. It seemed the Wendigos came out for this exact reason, whenever the stone’s energy ran low. That’s why they were shocked when most of us came back alive, and the only ones lost were because of our own mistakes.